Holiday One-Shots
by Ophelia Lokisdottir
Summary: NATALIE FISHER SERIES #2: My first (and probably only) one-shot series about how holidays happen at Avenger Tower. Sequel to With Great Power. Rated K-plus, this one's gonna be pretty clean. *FAMILIAL* Steve/OC, Loki/OC COMPLETED
1. Fourth of July, Steve's Birthday

**So, here it is! The first holiday one-shot. It was originally going to be just the Fourth of July, but then I found out that that's Steve's birthday as well, so I changed it a little. I also wanted to let you know how Natalie and Steve's relationship is going to develop. Now, as Natalie is sort of a representation of myself, and I am totally in love with Captain America, I would like to have them romantically involved. However, Natalie's sixteen, and the fact that she's underage makes things a bit difficult wand awkward. So for now, Steve is going to develop as sort of an older brother figure to her. Okay, I'll shut up now. Enjoy!**

**Oh yeah: VERY IMPORTANT- ****If you have not read my previous story THESE ONE-SHOTS WILL MAKE NO SENSE WHATSOEVER! So if you did not read With Great Power, I hate to interrupt you but go read that first!**

A rousing fanfare jolted Natalie from her sleep. She rolled over to look at the alarm clock on her nightstand. 6:15...

"Come on..." Natalie mumbled into her pillow. She rolled out of bed (almost literally) and stumbled out of her room into the commons area of the floor where the Avengers' bedrooms were to find everyone else doing the same. Only Tony was absent- well, his bedroom was on a different floor. She rubbed her face with both hands.

"Does anyone know what's going on?" she said loudly over the patriotic music still playing. Everyone shook their heads. "Right then. Jarvis?" The music stopped.

"Thank _god_," muttered Natasha.

"Good morning, Miss Fisher, Avengers. Happy Fourth of July. May I assist you with anything this morning?"

"You just did," replied Natalie. "Where's-" She was interrupted by the ding of the elevator. Tony came marching out, the march still playing inside the elevator.

"Hey, what gives? Where'd the music go?" Tony looked around at the various death stares being given by the five people in the room. "What?"

"Tony, on most days I'd be up by now but it's a holiday, and I wanted to sleep in. So I'll ask: why are you playing patriotic marches before the sun has barely risen?" Natasha asked calmly.

"Because it's the Fourth of July! We gotta get in the Fourth spirit!"

"Is there any possibility of doing that at a reasonable hour?" asked Steve tiredly. The rest of them nodded.

"Oh, you guys are no fun," grumbled Tony, turning to leave and calling the elevator. He stepped inside. As the doors slid shut, he put a hand between them to stop them. "By the way, I have a little surprise planned for tonight."

"That actually worries me a little," said Bruce as the group headed back to their rooms. Natalie, remembering something, didn't go back to sleep right away. Instead, once inside her room, she pulled wrapping paper and a box from under her bed and quietly set to work.

Worry was not necessary, however, as it turned out that Tony's surprise was taking them on a yacht way out into the Atlantic in the evening. As dusk fell, test fireworks began exploding all over the skyline. They all gathered around the rail. Tony stood next to Pepper, his arm wrapped around her waist, her head on his shoulder. Natasha stood next to Clint, not as physically linked as Tony and Pepper, but standing close to each other. Bruce was next, and Natalie stood near Steve. There was a collective "Oooh!" as a purple Roman candle went off. Out in the water, all of the city lights were dim, allowing a better view of the explosions in the sky. The group was bathed in different hues as rocket after rocket went off above the city. Red, gold, green, blue, purple, white. A red, white and blue circle exploded out over the water. Suddenly reminded of something, Natalie grabbed Steve's arm and pulled him inside the yacht's cabin.

"What-" Steve stuttered. Natalie took a wrapped present from under a seat and handed it to him.

"Happy birthday," she said. Steve looked surprised.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

"Um...I asked Fury a few weeks ago," admitted Natalie. Steve pulled the tape off of one end of the small package and slid the paper open. A framed black-and-white photograph sat in his hand. In it, Steve sat laughing with a beautiful woman and another man dressed in army fatigues. In the background stood a man who had the same cunning expression on his face that Tony often wore. Steve gazed at the photo. Natalie watched his face uncertainly. His eyes crinkled and began to tear up.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't sure if this was going to be a good present or not, if it was going to bring back memories that you didn't want-" She was cut off by Steve wrapping her in a hug.

"It's perfect. Thank you," he said in a slightly choked voice. He let go and Natalie saw a tear track down his face. "This is Bucky Barnes," he said, pointing to the other young man in the photo. "He was one of my best friends. And this," he went on, touching the woman's face, "is Peggy Carter. She...well...she was amazing. She worked at the army camp where I was stationed. I...uh...had a crush on her and I had no experience with girls at all. I did end up kissing her, right before..." Steve was silent for a moment, his fingers tracing over Peggy's face. "Where'd you get this?"

"Tony gave it to me, about a week ago. I uh...I didn't know what to get you so I asked him. I was expecting him to suggest something modern, but he gave me this instead. He said it was his dad's," Natalie explained. "Is that his dad?" she asked, pointing to the man in the background. Steve nodded.

"Howard Stark. He was the one in charge of administering the serum. He gave me my shield, too." He sighed. "I miss them like crazy, but then I remember that I've got all of you now." He wrapped his arm around Natalie and gave her shoulder a squeeze. She grinned at him.

"C'mon, let's go catch the rest of the fireworks."

**So, there you are! Hope you enjoyed the first Holiday One-Shot! Halloween is next! And I really need your help. I won't say much, but the Avengers are dressing up and I don know what they should be. So pretty- no, beautif- no, Tom-Hiddleston PLEASE! If you have any ideas leave them in a review of send me a PM! Please! I am stumped.**


	2. Halloween

**I'm glad this is being enjoyed so far! Sorry this one took so long, I had trouble thinking of costumes for everyone. I did get a review from a guest suggesting Alice in Wonderland costumes, but I just couldn't figure out how to make them work. Thank you so much for your input though! So here is Holiday One-Shots chapter 2: Halloween! Also, virtual cookies if you can guess Natalie's costume before it's said! Enjoy!**

Natalie silently crept through the dark maze, her ears pricked for any sound and her hands glowing, ready to create a barrier at a moment's notice. Turning to check behind her again, she hurried on. He was in here somewhere-she had to find him before he found her. In the extreme quiet of the maze, sounds were more audible- giving both people in there an advantage and disadvantage. That was why she heard the whistling of air as something rocketed toward her from behind. She dropped into a crouch, turning as she did so. Steve's shield flew harmlessly overhead, rebounding off a wall and back into Steve's hand as he came hurtling toward her. She raised a wall of amaranthium, (her name for the purple stuff she could create) and tore off down the passage, rounding a corner and then another one. She knew the wall wouldn't last long without her there to maintain it, so she put as much as distance as she could between her and Steve. Now that they had found each other, it was a matter of staying away from him. Silence no longer mattered. She could hear another set of pounding footsteps growing closer. Then an idea struck her. At an intersection, she raised a wall partway down one hall, then turned and took off down the other. She turned the corner and poked her head around to see if her ploy was effective. As she had hoped, Steve looked down the corridor and saw the glowing wall. He waited for it to dissipate, then continued down it. Now the hunter is the hunted, thought Natalie, following at a distance. Steve turned a corner. Natalie hurriedly followed, not wanting to lose him. After a few minutes of stalking, she became aware that she couldn't hear Steve's footsteps anymore. She slowed, listening. Had she missed a turn he had taken? Or...She turned, just as Steve jumped out from behind a corner and tackled her to the ground. One knee on her chest, one arm across her throat and the other raising his shield over her head.

"Gotcha," he whispered. Then the lights came on. Steve stood up, offering a hand to Natalie. She took it and he helped her to her feet.

"Another victory for Steve, but good job, Lee, that was your longest time yet!" came Natasha's voice over the room's sound system. The maze walls began sinking into the floor, allowing Steve and Natalie easy access to the training room door.

"I thought I had you with that one! How'd you figure out the trick?" Natalie asked Steve as they left the room.

"It was a good one, but don't forget the serum enhanced my mind as well as my body. I'm pretty good at battle strategies. Plus, you tried that trick a few weeks ago."

"Aw..."

"But Tasha was right, you lasted longer than you ever have. You're obviously paying attention in our lessons and it's paying off." The lessons Steve was referring to was the training he, Natasha and Clint were providing. Steve was working with her in combat strategies and different fighting styles, Natasha in basic weapon training and Clint tutored her in the art of SHIELD espionage. Natalie was also working, both with people and alone, on her abilities with the amaranthium. She could now raise a wall in a split second, and she was getting better at maintaining it from a distance, though she still struggled. She was discovering other extents of her skills too. When her wall was under attack, she could feel a less powerful force of the attack on herself. Depending on what the attack was, it could actually eventually hurt her, and at the very least prevent her from maintaining the wall.

Steve and Natalie parted ways and headed to their rooms to prepare for the night's festivities. They had been invited-well, Tony had been invited but the the invitation had been extended to all of them- to a big Halloween party. They had to dress up, of course, and the theme was "Your Favorite Movie." Natalie was excited. Though it was somewhat humiliating to admit, she'd never dressed up or gone trick-or-treating before. She showered quickly, then took her costume out of the closet. She slipped the black shirt with the full, loose sleeves over her head, then wrapped the wide black leather belt around her waist, sliding the scabbard around so it sat on her left hip. She pulled on the black pants, and the black boots with turned-down brims. Finally, she brought her hair back into a ponytail and slipped the black mask over her eyes and head. Then she took the crowning jewel, as it were, from a box under her bed. She swished the thin sword around in the air a few times, enjoying the whistling sound it made, then tucked it into the scabbard. She tugged on a pair of sleek black gloves and strode out into the commons area. Natasha was already there, lounging on the couch. She was dressed in a black leather jacket with a black shirt underneath. She wore brownish-gray pants and brown boots. She was wearing a long brown wig that had been braided. A bow and quiver sat on the floor next to high-tech like Clint's, but old-fashioned and plain. She looked up upon Natalie's entrance, gave her costume a once-over, and nodded approvingly.

"Nice costume, Lee," she said.

"Thanks. Katniss?" she questioned in return.

"Hey, she's kind of a badass," replied Natasha. Natalie nodded.

"Not gonna argue with you there," she agreed. After a few more minutes, Tony entered wearing a brown vest and white shirt. He had black pants and black boots and had a belt and gun holster around his waist and leg. Steve followed him, dressed in a white tunic, off-white pants and tan boots. He also wore a belt, but his had a slightly different holster, meant for something cylindrical. Tony drew the gun from his leg holster and posed dramatically. After a few seconds, he looked back at Steve, who still stood normally.

"Aw, come on, Cap, it looks silly if just I do it!" Steve sighed.

"All right..." He pulled the cylindrical object from his hip holster. Natalie and Natasha watched with mild interest. The object Steve held hummed and a glowing blue beam extended from the end. With a blush creeping up onto his face, he posed with Tony. The two young women clapped.

"Classic, boys," said Natalie with a grin. "And Steve, I'm glad you chose a Star Wars costume." Steve's blush deepened slightly.

"Really? I'm a little embarrassed..." Tony clapped him on the back.

"Lighten up, Cap, you look great!" Steve looked to the girls for confirmation. They both nodded and his cheeks lost the rosy hue. Tony glanced around. "Where're Birdie-boy and Brucie?" Natalie pointed to their rooms.

"Still getting ready." Tony raised his voice.

"Hey, come on, guys, we're going to be late!"

"One minute! God, Tony," Clint's muffled voice out of his room. Bruce's door opened and Brice exited.

"Bruce...why aren't you wearing shoes?" Steve asked with a very puzzled look on his face.

"Oh, you're Frodo Baggins, aren't you?" Natalie said, grinning again. Bruce nodded, looking a little sheepish, tugging on his emerald cloak.

"Who's Frodo? I want to see!" Clint's door opened and he came out, holding his bow. "You look great, Bruce!" Natasha cocked an eyebrow.

"I didn't know you liked Lord of the Rings, Clint."

"I only like it because of Legolas..." Clint mumbled. Clint wasn't dressed as Legolas, but he did have a quiver on his back. He wore a brown hooded vest over a green tunic and black pants. He wore boots similar to Natalie's with turned-down brims.

"Robin Hood?" guessed Bruce. Clint nodded.

"Well, if we're all done playing twenty questions, we've got a party to get to!" exclaimed Tony. "I just wish Pepper wasn't on a business trip. I look awesome!" Natalie rolled her eyes as the group headed down to the garage in the basement of the tower.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

As the car pulled up at the party, which was at a large banquet hall, Natalie could see the multitude of flashbulbs going off.

"Heads up, guys, it's paparazzi time!" said Tony. "Just smile and wave, and don't be nervous. They're like dogs. They can smell fear..." The car slowed and Tony's chauffeur, Happy, climbed out to open the door for them. Tony exited first, gleaming playboy smile spread across his face. Steve followed him, looking decidedly less happy. Next was Bruce, treading carefully with his bare feet, then Clint, Natasha and Natalie. They were instantly bombarded with questions from reporters and photographers.

"Hey, excuse me, Miss Fisher! You wouldn't happens to be the Dread Pirate Roberts, from The Princess Bride, would you?" A microphone was stuck in Natalie's face. /Dont be nervous./ Recalling the movie, Natalie made a short bow from the waist, spreading her arms out to the side.

"With pride," she responded. At last, they made it inside, where there were no nosy people. The atmosphere was calm, with people milling about chatting.

"All right, guys, no need to hang around me," said Tony. "Go have fun, meet people!" The group slowly, hesitantly dispersed. Natalie found herself wandering over by the refreshments table. She poured herself a glass of orange punch and sipped it as she looked around. She tugged off her mask and itched her nose. A young man dressed as Harry Potter walked over to her. He was probably a few years older than she was, maybe eighteen or nineteen.

"I love your costume. Man in Black, Dread Pirate Roberts, right? That's one of my favorite movies." Natalie smiled and nodded.

"I like yours too. Harry Potter is like my favorite series of all time!" The young man smiled and held out his hand.

"My name's Peter. Nice to meet you." Natalie shook his hand.

"Likewise. I'm Natalie." Peter laughed.

"Yeah, I saw you come in with Tony Stark. I'm here taking pictures for the Daily Bugle. Actually, can I get a photo of you? My boss would kill me if I didn't get a picture of the Avengers." Natalie blushed.

"I'm not an Avenger..."

"Well, you were there, and you live with the Avengers, so close enough." He raised his camera. "Please?" Natalie drew her sword and grinned at the lens. Peter snapped a picture.

"Thanks so much!" Something clicked in Natalie's mind.

"You know, I think I've seen your Spider-Man pictures in the paper. They're amazing, how do you get them?" Peter smiled and pretended to lock his lips shut.

"Sorry, trade secret. I never tell anyone how I get them." Natalie nodded.

"Yeah, if I had a secret that big I wouldn't want to tell anyone either," she agreed. Something buzzed in Peter's pocket. He pulled out a phone and rolled his eyes.

"Hi, Mr. Jameson...yes, I'm getting pictures...yes, the Avengers are here...no, not yet." He held the phone away from his ear as a burst of yelling came through. He pulled an exasperated face at Natalie. "I'll get right on it, sir." He closed the phone. "My boss is getting mad that I'm 'socializing' instead of working. I gotta go, it was nice to meet you!" He ran off towards Tony, who talking to a small group of women. Natalie shook her head. College kids...

**So, Peter may or may not come into the story more. I was reading my Amazing Spider-man comic and I just thought, _What if Natalie met Peter Parker?_ So, yay for random.**

**I have a few other things I want to mention:**

**First, I changed a little bit of With Great Power. I changed the video scene in chapter 9 so that her identity remains a secret. I've been thinking about Natalie deciding to do a little nighttime vigilante stuff and she can't be a secret vigilante if everyone knows it's her making the amaranthium.**

**Second, two chapters from now is Christmas, and I really like having this story be sort of by the readers, so here is your next chance to contribute: present ideas! I already have an idea for Steve, but that's it, so present ideas for any of the Avengers are welcome. If I use your idea, I'll make sure to mention you at the beginning of the chapter.**

**Until Thanksgiving! **

**-Ophelia**

**P.S Thanksgiving will see two very special guests come to the Tower!**


	3. Thanksgiving

**_Bonjour, mes lecteurs!_ I hope you enjoy this chapter-I enjoyed writing it! And I hope you like my surprise visitors!**

* * *

_Click_

"-baste the turkey in the sauce we showed-"

_Click_

"-light mashed potatoes with butter-"

"Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Can't they stop cooking Thanksgiving food on TV?" _Click_

"-forensics results here-"

_Click_

"Wait, no, go back, that was NCIS! I love that show," said Natasha. Natalie switched the channel back. Clint looked over from where he was polishing his bow.

"Really? Actually, I'm not that surprised."

_"Pardon me, Miss Romanoff, Mr Barton, Miss Fisher?"_

"Aw, come on, Jarvis, we just got settled!" Natalie complained.

_"My apologies, but there appears to be activity on the roof of the tower. My sensors are detecting an anomaly of some sort. I cannot tell what it is."_ The three of them looked at each other.

"We should probably go check it out..." said Clint.

"Yeah..." The three headed to the elevator. At the top floor, they exited and went to the staircase leading out onto the roof. Natasha took the lead, grabbing a pistol from the side of the staircase. Natalie and Clint stared.

"Do you just keep those all around the tower?"

"Come on..." They crept up the staircase. When they reached the top, Natasha slowly turned the handle, then shoved the door open and leapt out onto the roof. Natalie followed, hands glowing, and Clint nocked an arrow, aiming as he came out. Chilly November winds buffeted them as they stared. A blue light was fading from the air, and standing in the center was-

"Friends!" boomed Thor as the light faded. "We have returned to Midgard!" He enfolded the three of them in a hug.

"Thor- nice to- see you- but- squishing us-" Natalie gasped from within his arms.

"I apologize, my friends. It has been too long since we have seen you!"

"Wait, we?" said Clint. Thor turned. Standing behind, not immediately visible, was Loki. Lightning-fast, the pair of assassins scooped their weapons off the ground where they had fallen from Thor's hug and pointed them at Loki. Loki looked mildly surprised and maybe a little afraid.

"HEY!" Natalie yelled, leaping between Natasha and Loki, holding out her arms with hands still glowing.

"My friends, what is wrong?" asked Thor, a confused look on his face.

"What's wrong, Thor, is you brought _him_ with you," replied Natasha though gritted teeth.

"Can everyone please put the weapons down?" Natalie asked, her arms still outstretched. No one moved. "All right then." A purple amaranthium dome grew around Loki.

"Lee, what are you doing?!" hissed Natasha.

"Listen, you shoot Loki and who do you think is going to come after you first? And what sort of massively destructive weapon does he have?" Natalie asked. As much as the rest of them distrusted Loki, she couldn't bring herself to hate him. Natasha was still for a minute. Then she whirled and stalked back into the building, followed by Clint. Natalie let the dome disappear. Thor still looked confused.

"They're all still sort of bitter about what Loki did back in June," explained Natalie.

"Why are you not bitter, as your friends are?" Thor asked.

"Um..." Natalie glanced over at Loki, who had not moved. "I have reasons." She shivered. "Why don't we go inside?" She opened the door and the two gods followed her back into the building.

"Jarvis, where did Natasha and Clint go?"

"They have congregated on Mr. Stark's floor with the rest of the Avengers. They appear to be quite aggravated." Natalie sighed as they stepped into the elevator.

"There's going to be no easy way to do this... Jarvis, let's not go there yet. Can you take us to the Avengers' floor?"

_"Of course, Miss Fisher."_ Thor looked bewildered.

"Who are you conversing with, Lady Fisher? And what is this box we have stepped into?" The elevator began descend and Thor looked startled.

"I was talking to Jarvis. He's...he's like a butler, but he's not real. Physically. I don't really know how he works. You'd have to ask Tony. And we're in an elevator. It's a machine that lets you travel around tall buildings more quickly than taking the stairs." Realizing she was babbling somewhat, she finished with, "So what are you doing back here?" as the elevator slowed and the doors opened.

"Our father believed it would be good for Loki to return and try to make amends with the Avengers." Natalie nodded, adding details to her defense for Loki.

"So he believes that the whole battle thing wasn't Loki's fault?" Thor nodded.

"Indeed, the Allfather detected an energy in Loki suggesting Loki had not been in control of himself."

Natalie stole a glance at Loki, who had moved away from them and was standing at the window, gazing out at the city. He looked healthier than he had back in June. His hair, still slicked back, was trimmed shorter, just touching the nape of his neck. He was no longer deathly pale, and his cheekbones were no longer hollow. At least it seemed they hadn't punished him too harshly, or at all on Asgard. Possibly another point in Natalie's defense, if Thor backed her up.

_"Miss Fisher, the Avengers are becoming concerned as to why you have not returned. Shall I tell them where you are?"_ asked Jarvis.

"Fine, but you can't let them down here yet."

_"Very well, Miss Fisher."_ Natalie turned to Thor.

"Why don't you go up and see them? They'll be happy to see you. Jarvis will help you get there." On cue, the elevator doors slid open again.

"Are you sure-" Natalie made a shooing motion with her hand.

"Yes. Go." Thor entered the elevator a little hesitantly. Natalie saw him standing very still in the center as the door shut. She turned to face Loki but didn't say anything right away.

"I got your letter," she said quietly after a while. "And I believed you. From the moment I read it." Loki turned his head from the window.

"Why?" he asked simply. "You had no reason to trust me. I would have expected you to do the opposite." Natalie thought for a minute.

"Your eyes," she said. Loki was puzzled. "Right before you and Thor went back to Asgard, I saw that your eyes were green. On the helicarrier they were the same blue that Clint's and Selvig's had been. I didn't know what it meant at the time but after I got your letter I figured it out."

"What do you gain from defending me?" asked Loki softly. "It would appear that you have already lost some of your friends."

"Maybe I'm just not hardened like the rest of them are. They've been through things I haven't been through, seen things I haven't seen. But they don't have the sort of proof I do to be trusting you." Loki gave cocked his head to the side and gave a half smile.

_"My apologies, Miss Fisher, but your request for privacy has been overridden. Captain Rogers will be joining you shortly."_

Natalie heard the elevator arrive at the floor. It dinged and the doors opened. She braced herself for the tirade that was surely about to happen, turning from the elevator and closing her eyes.

"Lee? We're not mad," she heard Steve's voice say. Natalie turned around. Steve had a small smile on his face. "Thor has been explaining everything to us. And we all agree that though we're not all ready to completely drop any bad feelings we have toward Loki- no offense, Loki-"

"None taken, Captain," Loki said quietly.

"-we agreed that letting Loki stay in the tower would be a good idea for making amends with us. Tony's already getting rooms started for them." Natalie exhaled. Maybe Thanksgiving wouldn't be a disaster.

* * *

Natalie set a plate of turkey on the table next to the mashed potatoes. Following her, Pepper carried bowls of cranberry jam and gravy. Tony finished the small line with a pitcher of lemonade, pecking Pepper on the cheek as he set it down. Pepper had been a bit apprehensive about having two gods she had never met living in the Tower (especially when one was Thor) but both had put her at ease fairly quickly. Thor had been romantic, plenty of hand-kissing and Loki had been quiet and gentlemanly. Natalie went to the other room to call everyone for dinner. Thor got up from the couch, holding a pretty brunette's hand. Jane was laughing at something he had said. Bruce followed, talking quietly to a woman with long dark brown hair- Betty, Bruce had said her name was. She smiled at him. Steve kept throwing covert glances at the two couples with a slight look of nostalgic longing in his eyes. Natalie glanced around the room.

"Where's Loki?" she murmured to Steve as he passed. He stopped to let Clint and Natasha walk past him.

"I think he's in his room," Steve said quietly. Natalie nodded and headed for the elevator. The new rooms had been added on the same floor as the rest of the Avengers' rooms. They'd been added surprisingly quickly, but when it's Tony Stark asking, anything can be done quickly. When she got out of the elevator, she went to Loki's door. Knocking a few times, she turned the handle slowly.

"Loki? Are you in here?" She stepped into the room. Frankly, she was stunned by the decoration. While her room was purple, Loki's was green and gold. The curtain were heavy and green, the bedspread was green with gold trim, and much of the furniture was a rich brown wood. It was grand and beautiful, and she briefly thought wondered how beautiful Asgard must be if this was how the rooms were decorated. Remembering her purpose for entering in the first place, she glanced around the room. Loki sat in a chair by the window reading a large old-looking gilded book.

"Loki, we're eating now. I was wondering if you wanted to join us?" Loki shook his head without looking up from his book.

"I am fine. Miss Potts has been bringing food to me in here. I do not think some of your friends would take too kindly to me joining you at your feast." Natalie sighed.

"Loki, their feelings will never change if you don't go out there and, you know, socialize! If you don't show them who you actually are, they're just going to remember you the only way they've seen you! The whole point of you coming here was to...what did Thor say? 'Make amends' with us." Loki looked up from his book at her. "Please?" she asked. Loki closed his book.

"All right."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Girl and god stepped out of the elevator to the smells of the Thanksgiving food. Everyone was just sitting down at the table. They all looked over when the pair exited.

"Brother! You have joined us!" cried Thor. Loki's cheeks reddened slightly. Natalie grabbed his wrist and led him to the two open places near the end of the table. Loki sat on one end of a long side, so that Steve, on the end, was to his left, and Natalie took the last spot between Loki and Betty, Bruce's friend. Everyone began taking the different plates of food, passing them around the table. Loki and Thor both did not know what most of the food was, so as each dish came by them, Natalie gave Loki a quick explanation. She heard Jane doing the same thing for Thor, but it looked like Thor didn't really care what it was, he just ate. After several minutes, Loki warmed up to the people around him. It turned out he could be quite funny as he regaled them with stories from his childhood, mostly at Thor's expense. One involved Thor disguising himself a woman in order to retrieve his hammer, Mjolnir. Thor's face turned bright red as Loki divulged the details of the tale.

"When Thor discovered Mjolnir had been stolen, he first thought me the thief, naturally. After my assurances that it was not I who had stolen it, I took it upon myself to help discover the true thief. I soon found out that the giant Thrym had taken it, and in order for its return, he wished the goddess Freyja's hand in marriage. Naturally, Freyja being the goddess of beauty, love and fertility, this could not happen, but Asgard's gatekeeper, Heimdall, came up with a solution." The whole table had quieted now and was listening to Loki, even the pair of assassins. "Thor would fetch his hammer himself by disguising himself in a bride's dress." The table erupted in laughter, causing Thor's face to redden even more. Loki contined the story as the laughter died down. "Thor did get Mjolnir back. During the wedding, we were feasting. Thrym placed Mjolnir on Thor's lap to consecrate the ceremony, as Mjolnir is a symbol of creation and unity, and Thor promptly destroyed the palace." Everyone laughed again

"What did I tell you?" said Natalie to Loki during the laughter. Loki smiled, a real, truly happy smile.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I want to have a story of storyline running through these one-shots, and I've decided Loki's return and the Avengers learning his story and stuff like that is going to be it. Also, I have an important matter to discuss with all of you: the next chapter is going to be the Christmas chapter, and frankly, I'm sort of stumped on good gift ideas. Avenger Tower is going to be having a Secret Santa type thing and I need gift ideas mostly for Tony, because what do you get a billionaire, but any other ideas for other people are welcome. I have a god one for Steve, but anyone else! (Tony, Bruce, Clint, Thor, Natasha, Natalie, Loki.) If I use your idea I'll be sure to mention you at the beginning of the chapter! If you don't have any ideas, drop me a review about what you though of the chapter anyways! See you for Christmas!**

**-Ophelia**


	4. Christmas

**So, I'm going to try and reduce the length of my author's notes...but I would like to give a thank-you to CrystalClear98 for Tony's gift idea and just for being a reviewer in general! Really, reviews make me so happy!**

* * *

"Avengers and Company!" Tony's voice sang over the Tower PA system, cutting off the Christmas music playing quietly. "I'm calling a mandatory meeting on your dorm floor! Loki, you have to be there too!" The voice came to Natalie through the underwater speakers. She popped up from the pool and looked at Steve, who was reading the fifth Harry Potter book in a chair on the deck. He shrugged and marked his page. Natalie hoisted herself out onto the deck and toweled off. Pulling a pair of sweats on over her swimsuit, she and Steve left the pool for their floor.

Tony was lounging on the couch holding a small bowl with little folded pieces of paper.

"Are we having a tower Hunger Games?" asked Natalie as they walked in. Tony shook his head.

"But now that you say that-"

"NO," interrupted Bruce and Pepper simultaneously from chairs over to the left.

"No what?" Clint asked as he walked in.

"Tony wants to have a tower Hunger Games," explained Bruce.

"Yeah! You could be Kat-"

"NO," affirmed Clint. Tony pouted. "Nat's on her way. It was her turn to put away our training stuff," he continued. "I think Thor was in the kitchen. Looking for pop-tarts. Again." While they waited for everyone to get there, Natalie went to her room and changed out of her swimsuit, putting on dry sweatpants and a t-shirt and brushing her wet hair. Loki was just walking in as she came back out, and Natasha and Thor had arrived while she was in her room.

"Great! Everyone's here," said Tony. "This year with so many people in the tower I thought we'd each give a gift to someone else. So everyone take a piece of paper from the bowl. They've got our names on them. Whoever you pick is the person you buy a present for. It's secret until they open it, so don't tell who you get!" He plucked a piece of paper out of the bowl and passed it to Steve, who did the same. The bowl traveled around the room until all the pieces of paper were gone. Natalie unfolded her paper.

Loki.

She looked up, careful not to stare directly at Loki and make it obvious, instead casting her eyes across the entire group. What did one get a god who, though polite, thought himself somewhat above mortal...well, everything? As the group dispersed, Natalie decided to go do what she did to think- beat up dummies in the training room. Bruce had been doing meditation with her to try and focus her Tesseract power, and recently she had been able to expand from walls to be able to make a staff. It was lightweight and easy to maneuver yet unbreakable, therefore an ideal weapon. She had been training herself in the art of bo staff fighting, but it was somewhat slow going since Clint and Natasha preferred long-range weapons and firearms and were untrained with bo staffs, preferring a knife if hand-to-hand combat was necessary. She set up a dummy in the middle of the room and held out her hands. The purple glow surrounded them, and a staff grew from her loose fists. She started with basic turns and swings, doing them at a slowed-down speed. She had only been at it a few minutes when she was startled by a voice.

"Impressive." She turned to see Loki leaning against a wall. "Have you done anything else with your ability?"

"As of yet I'm sort of limited to walls and a staff," Natalie replied. "I've tried other stuff. I tried a sword once, but keeping the blade sharp is too complex. For me. Right now. Simple stuff works best." Loki nodded. "So, uh...what brings you to the training room?" Loki leaned slightly forward, pushing gently off the wall and began walking towards Natalie.

"I wish your assistance with Stark's ridiculous secret gift program." Natalie raised her eyebrows.

"Why? Who'd you get?"

"I must give a gift to Captain Rogers. I have already considered several modern items but I feel that would be somehow inappropriate. He sens to enjoy items from his time." Natalie nodded.

"Yeah, he does..." She tapped the end of her staff against the floor absentmindedly as she thought. Loki's gaze was drawn to it as it thumped gently up and down.

"How skilled are you with that?" Natalie looked at the staff, a bit of pink creeping to her cheeks.

"Not very, truthfully. No one in the tower knows how to use one, so I'm sort of teaching myself. It's been kind of slow going." Loki stepped back a few paces.

"Show me your stance," he said, crossing his arms. Natalie held the staff with her left palm facing away from her and her right palm facing toward her. Her feet were planted evenly about shoulder width apart. Loki walked around her. "Relax your shoulders. You want to be loose, able to strike at a moment's notice with ease." Natalie realized her shoulders were indeed tensed, and she let them drop. "Shift your dominant foot forward slightly. That way, when you strike forward, you can lunge on it to provide more power. It also provides you a more stable base." Natalie did as he said. Loki held out his hands, and a simple staff appeared in them. "It would serve you well to train with a partner." He began demonstrating turns and strikes, effortlessly fluid and strong, explaining the mechanics behind each. As Natalie copied him, she tried to initiate a conversation that would hopefully give her present ideas.

"Is there anything you've really liked about Midgard so far? Anything that has stood out to you as really neat?" Loki thought for a moment.

"The creatures of your world are quite fascinating. Many are very different than the ones on Asgard. I have enjoyed learning about them. Why do you ask?" Natalie shrugged.

"I was just trying to make conversation," she replied as she rotated the staff forward, trying to match Loki. That night she had the perfect idea for both Loki and his present for Steve.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

On Christmas Eve Day, Natalie left Stark Tower to go buy Loki's present. She went to the nearest subway station and took the train to a pet store. The shop was empty, so Natalie pulled down the scarf she had wrapped around her mouth and nose to hide her identity. The last thing she wanted was a paparazzi storm while she was shopping for a secret present. The nice lady at the front desk took her to the section of the store she had asked about.

"I'm afraid we don't have many left-they're a popular present. We just have a black one because nobody wants him, poor dear, people are so superstitious!" Natalie peered into the cage, watching him bat at the toy dangling from the top.

"He's perfect," she said, grinning.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Natalie woke up early on Christmas morning to prepare Loki's present. She took out the separately wrapped lid and bottom of the box and placed some soft stuffing inside. Gently, she scoped up Loki's present and set him down inside, where he blinked a few times, then curled up in the fluff. She placed the holey lid on top and crept out into the commons with it, too excited to sleep any more. She now truly understood what people meant when they said someone was as excited as a kid on Christmas Day. As everyone began to trickle in from their rooms carrying presents, they took seats on couches, chairs or even the floor. They all wished each other "Merry Christmas" and waited for Tony and Pepper to come down. Finally, when everyone had arrived, they exchanged their gifts and began opening them, one at a time (at Tony's insistence). Tony, of course, then insisted upon going first, opening Clint's present to him. With a chuckle, he pulled out an Iron Man action figure and t-shirt, the latter emblazoned with the words _Avengers Assemble!_ It was actually a good idea for a present- Tony had access to everything he wanted, so getting him something he wouldn't normally want was clever. Natalie, seated next to him, went next, opening her present from Pepper. Pepper had gotten her a "girls' only day" themed present, including a spa coupon for three and a movie package. Natalie giggled as she looked through the items in the box, thinking about how nice it would be for the females in the tower to take a day away from the many more boys that resided there as well. Clint got a set of special new arrowheads from Bruce, Tony gave Thor several different varieties of Poptarts, and then it was Loki's turn. His expression turned querulous at the holes in the box as he lifted the lid off. A little black head popped out, looking around the room at all the people. There was a collective "Awwwww!" at the sight of the fuzzy black kitten. Something in Loki's expression melted as he gently scooped the kitten out of the box and held him in front of him.

"Oh, he's adorable!" Pepper squealed, coming over to sit next to Loki and scratching the kitty on the head with one finger. The kitten closed his eyes and began purring. Loki looked startled at the sound.

"It's okay, he's just purring. That's what cats do when they're happy. You try petting him," encouraged Natalie. Loki stroked the kitten's soft fur and the kitten nuzzled his head into Loki's cupped hand. Loki became absorbed in petting his new friend as the small cat curled up in his lap. The opening of the presents continued, Loki only resurfacing from his kitten world when it was Steve's turn to open his present. Judging by the shape, Loki had gone with Natalie's idea. She hoped he had gone with the full idea. Steve opened the present to find-as Natalie had suggested- a record of jazz songs from the 40's. Steve smiled, thanked Loki and turned it over to look at the song list, instead finding a post-it note with the words "Part One" written on it. He looked up, totally confused. Natalie was holding back an all-out grin.

"Jarvis, has our guest arrived yet?" she asked.

_"The elevator is on it's way up as we speak, Miss Fisher."_ Natalie pressed her lips together in anticipation, looking at Loki. The room was quiet and the elevator's machinery was audible as it drew closer to the floor. There was a _ding_ and the doors slid open. An elderly woman walked out. Though aged past 90, she retained a regal beauty about her. Her eyes flicked over the occupants of the room, coming to rest on Steve, where they widened and her mouth fell open slightly.

"Steve?" she asked in a quiet, shaky voice. Steve stared for a moment, realization dawning on his face as the record in its case slipped from his hand.

"P-Peggy?" he whispered. Peggy's lips curved into a wide smile and Steve leaped from his seat, tearing across the room and wrapping the woman in his arms. She returned the embrace, tears shining in her eyes. The two stayed locked in the embrace for a full minute before Steve slowly let go, tracing his hand along her cheek.

"I never gave up hope, Captain," whispered Peggy. Steve took her hand and turned back to the group, looking at Loki and Natalie. His mouth was open. No words came out, but the giddy, amazed, absolutely ecstatic expression on his face spoke for him.

"Merry Christmas, Captain," said Loki quietly, a small smile playing about his lips.

* * *

**Christmas fluff...and a kitten... No specific ideas needed for the next few chapters, but if you have anything you want me to incorporate for a chapter in general, I'm always glad to! **

**However, April Fools Day is approaching... *evil little snicker***


	5. New Year's Eve

**In advance, I warn you ****(**and possibly apologize) for the romantic fluffiness in this chapter. We'll see if this works out.

* * *

Natalie sighed in pleasure as the woman's hands kneaded her back muscles. Opening her eyes, she saw Natasha and Pepper with the same blissful expressions on their faces. Natalie had used her Christmas present and taken the two to a spa for a much-needed afternoon away from the tower and the level of boy in it. The men of the tower were great and all, but they were just such _boys!_ Just the previous day, with Christmas just a day over, Tony, Thor and Clint had decided to have a contest to see who could demolish the tree in the most spectacular fashion. They took the tree up to the roof, Tony had suited up and gone for a straight repulsor blast, effectively shattering the tree into so much toothpicks and sawdust. Thankfully, that put an end to the contest. That and Pepper storming out onto the roof, grabbing Tony by the ear-yes, ear- and pulling him inside. Natalie caught the whole thing on video, then decided that the girls needed a break from the large amounts of boyish hyperactivity being emitted. Mostly from Tony. At least Loki hadn't been adding to the chaos-he'd been practically inseparable from his new kitten, who he'd named Galdur- meaning "magic" in the "tongue of the Æsir," as he'd said, which as far as Natalie could tell was pretty close to Icelandic.

When the masseuse finished, Natalie pulled her fluffy robe around her and sat up slowly, relishing the opiated feeling she had. The three young women went to retrieve their clothes from the changing rooms. As the walked, Natalie turned to Pepper.

"What do you guys do on New Years anyway? I would assume Tony throws a party..." Pepper nodded.

"He does, and they're usually so big that we don't have them at the tower. We rent a big, nice banquet hall or something. This year I think we've got this room overlooking Times Square, so we can watch the countdown festivities."

"Who gets invited to these parties?" asked Natalie. Pepper tipped her head as she thought.

"You know, I don't usually know the people there. A lot of them are Tony's business friends. You'd have to check with Tony when we get back to the tower." The three collected their clothes and stepped into the changing rooms. When they were done, they made their way to the front door, thanked the receptionist and went back to Avenger Tower.

"Where were you guys?" Tony asked as they found most of the Avengers in the commons.

"We left a note, didn't you see it?" replied Pepper. "It was right on the counter." Tony looked away, trying to hide a guilty expression. Pepper gave him a scathing look. "All right, what did you manage to do while we were gone?"

"Oh, nothing big or anything, we just-"

"Restarted their tree contest," said Loki from the chair on the other side of the room. Tony glared at the trickster, who was dangling a string for Galdur to play with.

"Spoilsport," Tony muttered. Loki grinned at the disapproving look Tony received from Pepper.

"Tony, who's on the guest list for the New Years party this year?" Pepper asked when she had finished her spiel about how there were plenty of ways to have fun that didn't involve destroying things. Tony thought for a minute.

"Some of my friends from the scientist community, a few SHIELD agents that aren't annoying, a bunch of people that are just good friends. Anyone you want to invite?" he finished, directing the question at Pepper.

"Maybe. Some of the girlfriends, perhaps. I'll see."

Later, Natalie was sitting in the commons reading when a thought struck her.

"Hey, Pepper?" she said. Pepper looked up. "What's the dress code for the party?"

"You're going to have to wear a dress, if that's what you're wondering," replied Pepper with an apologetic smile. Natalie tipped her head back and sighed. "Not a super formal one, like a ball gown or anything. Just a party dress. We can go shopping tomorrow and I guarantee we'll find something you like."

Much to Natalie's surprise, Pepper was right. The two of them plus Natasha went dress shopping the next day and Natalie now had a dress that she rather liked. It was purple, unsurprisingly, and strapless, but with a small swath of chiffon flowing from the top of the bust over her left shoulder. The chest was dotted with tiny purple gems. The skirt was wide and flowing, with a silver design twisting up the side. Natalie had also found a silver flower with a purple center for her hair and silver low-heeled sandals. Pepper had found something rather interesting for her- a silver spiral armband that fit around her bicep. Natalie had been stunned by her appearance when she had tried everything on. She felt...beautiful, elegant, not like Natalie. She rather liked it

When the night of the party arrived, everyone got into their party clothes. All the guys were in tuxedos. Natasha wore a beautiful black dress that hugged all her curves, and Pepper wore a green party dress that matched her her splendidly. Pepper had curled Natalie's reddish-brown hair and pinned the flower just past her temple above her ear. Even Loki was coming, though he had used his magic to change his appearance to that of a brown-haired young man, slightly worried he could be recognized as the instigator of the battle several months previously. The nine of them piled into a limo and they headed off to the party

When the limo pulled up at the party, Natalie could see the camera flashes, though they no longer bothered her as much. She had gotten somewhat used to them. Loki, though, barely went out of the tower and was not at all used to anything bright and wild in his face. He stared out the window at the approaching flashbulbs with an apprehensive look on his face. Natalie nudged him

"Hey," she said. He looked at her. "They're just cameras. They're not going to hurt you. Just keep your head up, don't look at the people and don't talk to anyone out there holding something in your face." Loki glanced back out the window as the limo slowed and stopped. Happy came and opened the door and Tony got out to cheers and chants

"Happy New Year's Eve, New York!" he shouted to the yells of the crowd outside the hall. Everyone else got out and they made it into the large, elegant building with little trouble. The party was on the tenth floor, overlooking Times Square on one side. The festivities were already beginning down on the street. People dressed in red were walking around handing out party hats and noisemakers. The New Year's Eve Ball was raised high up on its tower ready for the drop in a little less than six hours. As the host of the party, Tony had to arrive early and make sure everything was set up. The party wasn't due to start for another forty minutes or so, so Natalie amused herself by watching the festivities in Times Square and wandering around the building. Guests began arriving around seven, as scheduled. Some businessmen were first to arrive, beautiful women on their arms, followed by Tony's military friend James "Rhodey" Rhodes. Tony greeted everyone with his winning smile and welcomed them, wishing them a happy new year. Natalie was glad she didn't have to do that. It looked exhausting to stay that happy and welcoming with a smile on your face. As more guests arrived, Natalie saw some faces she recognized. Falling under the science buddies category was Reed Richards and the rest of the Fantastic Four. The Thing made quite the picture, in only large tuxedo pants. There were also, as Tony had said, a few SHIELD agents that Natalie recognized, but didn't know by name. She was not altogether surprised to see the agent Tony had spotted playing Galaga so many months ago aboard the Helicarrier was there. Tony must have liked the man's quiet disobedience or something. Soon the room was full of finely dressed men and women eating, talking and dancing. Natalie didn't know many people but she did spend quite a bit of time talking to Reed Richards about her studies at NYU and he told her about different projects he was working on. One in particular intrigued her, a prison for supervillains in a place called the Negative Zone, a universe full of negative particles and literally nothing else, the idea being that if a prisoner managed to escape, there'd be nowhere for them to go. Natalie thought it was absolutely ingenious. When she had finished talking to Richards, she wandered over to the Times Square window and cracked it open so she could hear what was going on. Snatches of pop music drifted in, barely audible over the party's music. She closed the window and turned to watch the dancing. she watched the couples waltz across the floor, turning around each other. She almost wished she could join in. She turned away to find a handsome young man with wavy brown hair standing in front of her, holding out his hand in invitation. For a second she was confused, then she remembered.

"I saw you watching," said Loki, a knowing smile on his face. Natalie blushed, a grin creeping to her face as she placed her hand in his and he led her onto the dance floor as a new song started, another waltz

"I-I don't know how..." she started. Loki took her hands and placed one of them on his shoulder. He placed his mirroring hand on her waist and held her other hand

"Just follow me," he said, before taking a step. Natalie mirrored him. Loki began moving faster, adding turns as they moved. He took his hand off her shoulder and extended the other arm, giving Natalie the opportunity to twirl, her dress lifting out to the sides as she spun. When the song ended, Loki bowed gently. Natalie curtsied, and Loki left the dance floor. Natalie stood there for a moment before realizing she had a huge grin on her face and rushing off the dance floor. She leaned against the wall, feeling the flush slowly ebb from her cheeks. She had never felt so...this way. The only thing that could even possibly compare to this was that slight fluttery feeling she got when she looked at that boy in her English class...oh, God.

Natalie was in love. Well, maybe not in love, but a pretty huge crush. Immediately her sensible side took over her thoughts

_No. You're sixteen. He's...millennia. Oh my god, what would the Avengers think? What about Thor and Jane? Jane's not that much older than I am. If you convert Asgardian years to human years...oh, who am I kidding? I can't do this. There's no way he'd reciprocate, anyway. I'm just a mortal girl. I sure he's got his eye on some Asgardian girl. I can't help it, though...he's handsome, he's intelligent and clever- I really do prefer brains over brawn- and as much as he was distrusted, he's changed. Whatever had control over him doesn't anymore and he's back to how Thor said he used to be when they were growing up. Gah!_ Natalie marched over to the long table of refreshments to get a drink of water. As the hours passed, Natalie tried to find places to attempt to gather her thoughts, but whenever she tried to move towards the door, she would run into someone who would strike up a conversation with her. Finally, as the midnight hour approached, people began gathering near the windows to watch the Times Square final countdown festivities. Natalie used the opportunity to creep out of the party room, heading down the hall where she found the elevator and traveling up a few floors. The room that she found was similar to the party room, but quiet, dark and empty- a welcome change from the crowded party. She made her way over to the Times Square window and crossed her arms on the sill, leaning her forehead against it and welcoming the cool touch. She gazed down at the bright lights below and yawned. She was a night owl, for sure, but midnight was on the late side. She glanced at one if the giant clocks all around Times Square. Five minutes until midnight. She could hear the crowd cheering as some huge Korean pop star came on stage. Behind her, she heard the door open and close. She turned to see Loki strolling toward her. As he walked, green light shimmered around his form and the brown-haired man disappeared, the real Loki in his place. He joined her at the window.

Three minutes until midnight

"Thank you for the dance," Natalie said quietly. Loki chuckled

"As I said, I saw you watching. I could see that you wanted to." He paused.

"I do not spread my affection easily, the way Thor does." Natalie waited for him to continue. "I do not often meet people worthy of my attention. Most of you mortals are, quite frankly, dull and rather judgmental. You are different. You welcomed me back to your realm much faster than your companions and you did not use my past actions to dictate possible future actions. You..." He hesitated, something Natalie had not often heard him do, with all his vocal eloquence. "You are unique among mortals, in more ways than one."

One minute until midnight. The ball, high up on its spire, began to slide downward. Loki was silent. Natalie was very aware of Loki's proximity to her. He turned to face her, and she did the same. He had a strange expression on his face, like something inside him was yearning to escape.

"I... What I mean to say is..." He scowled and turned on his heel, placing his hands over his face in a frustrated manner. Natalie had also never seen him agitated like this. Inside, her heart was racing. A hundred and fifty feet below, the crowd began chanting a countdown from ten. Loki placed a palm against the window, curling it into a fist.

"Four! Three! Two!"

Before Natalie could react, Loki turned, bent his head slightly gently caught her chin, tipping her head up as he pressed his lips to hers. Something akin to an electric shock seemed to run through her body. As fireworks began to go off, bathing them in colored light, Natalie found herself returning the kiss. After several seconds, Loki gently broke the kiss and gave the smallest of smiles. Then he shimmered and vanished. Natalie stood stock-still, lips slightly parted.

Loki had kissed her.

He'd _kissed_ her. Her! Had he noticed her crush? Or...dare she hope...could he maybe have feelings for her? Natalie sank to the floor, pressing her fingers to her lips, trying to retain the electric, wonderful feeling, never wanting to let go of it.

When the part wound dlate and they went home, Thor questioned the location of Loki, to which Natalie said that he had probably gotten tired of the party and left early. Everyone dispersed back to their rooms back at the tower. Before she went to bed, Natalie crept over to Loki's door. She knocked quietly. Getting no response, she gently tried to turn the knob. It was locked, so he was in there. She decided to leave the matter for the next day.

When Natalie woke late the next morning, she dressed quickly, grabbed an apple from the kitchenette, and asked Jarvis where Loki was. He told her she would find Loki on the roof, so, grabbing her coat, she hopped in the elevator and went up to the roof entrance floor. She pushed the door open to find Loki standing at the edge of the roof, gazing out at the bustling city with his hands clasped behind his back.

"I knew you'd come find me, Miss Fisher," said Loki without turning around. "before you say anything, there is something I must discuss with you."

"Okay, shoot," she said, joining him at the edge of the building. Loki looked confused. "It's an expression, it means go ahead." Loki looked at her.

"Last night I said you were unique because you were nonjudgmental. This is why I choose to show this to you first." Loki closed his eyes. His fingertips turned a beautiful blue shade. The coloration spread up his hands and into his sleeves, before emerging under his collar and covering his face. Lighter blue scar-like patters traced across his forehead and cheekbones. He opened his eyes, which were a startling scarlet. He turned to Natalie. "This is my true form. I am a _jötun_, a frost giant of Jötunheim. Thor calls me his brother, though my true parentage is not shared with him." Natalie realized she was looking at Loki with her mouth open slightly. Loki turned away. "I understand if you do not like it." Natalie shook her head.

"Are you kidding? Loki, this is...this is beautiful. Why would you be ashamed to show anyone this?"

"On Asgard, frost giants are considered brutal, murderous creatures. The mere mention of a _jötun_ will agitate even a child." The azure hue faded from his skin, his eyes returning to their bright green. "You can imagine my...distress...when I discovered my heritage." Natalie tipped her head to the side.

"What'd you do when you found out?" Loki looked down.

"Yelled at my father, sent him into the Odinsleep, took over the throne as Thor was here on Midgard, and then tried to kill him." Natalie raised her eyebrows.

"Took it sort of hard, huh?" Loki nodded.

"I regretted what I tried to do. As a result of all of that, I ended up falling into space and joining forces- unwillingly- with the Chitauri and-" He cut himself off.

"Who?" Loki said nothing, his brow furrowed. "Is this the person that was controlling you, that you didn't want to talk about in your letter?" Loki nodded.

"Thanos," he said quietly, so quietly that Natalie barely heard him over the wind.

"Hey, listen," said Natalie, taking Loki's arm and turning him to face her. "Understand two things. Your frost giant form is beautiful and nothing to be ashamed of. And now that you are here, if Thanos ever shows his face around here, we'll blast him so far back into outer space he'll never make it back." Loki sighed softly.

"You really are a truly wonderful person...Natalie."

* * *

**So um...too sappy? Did I do it right? I've never written a romantic scene before. Could this work out or should it merely be a crush, unattainable for the time being? Drop a review and let me know what you thought and how I could improve it.**

**Also, I wrote a sort of one-shot type thing revisiting part of a chapter from With Great Power, inspired by an old review on that story. Check it out, tell me what you think!**

**~Ophelia**


	6. Valentine's Day

**Hi guys! So this chapter...ehhh. I just had a lot of trouble with this one and I've gone over it so many times, and I just wanted to put it up and be done with it. So if it's slightly less than my usual output, I'm sorry. I hope to make up for it with the next update, which I'm very excited to write.**

* * *

"Okay, I'm all for holiday spirit but seriously?" Natalie gazed around the commons, Natasha matching her stunned, slightly horrified gaze. "Valentines Day isn't even a no-school holiday!"

"Looks like Lockhart did the decorating." Natalie grinned at the reference, but it slid from her face as she continued looking around. The room was decked in lurid streamers, hearts and flowers of at least seven different shades of pink. Pink blankets were draped over the chairs and couches and pink confetti littered the floor.

"How does Tony even do this overnight?" Natalie went to a wall and began pulling down the crepe-paper streamers. Natasha began folding up the blankets. Clint's door opened and Clint stepped out, blinked twice, then came out to help.

"Tony?" he questioned. The girls nodded in affirmation as he pulled a vacuum from the closet and began sucking up the confetti. After a few minutes, Natalie tossed a bundle of streamers in the trash, and said, "Guys, I've gotta go or I'll be late for school. I'm sorry to leave you-"

"No, you're not," replied Natasha with a grin.

"Yeah, you're right," said Natalie as she walked out the door.

As the subway raced through the tunnels, Natalie's thoughts turned to Loki. She and Loki hadn't really formally begun dating. There was the mutual understanding between them that she was mortal and he was not, and he understood the (comparative) age difference. But both of them felt something for the other, and so their relationship was a little up in the air.

The entire campus had, as expected, a very romantic atmosphere. There was certainly quite a few more couples in romantic embrace in the hallways than usual, and Natalie saw several bouquets of flowers presented to girlfriends, accompanied by lots of squealing and then a lot more kissing- but it was part of the spirit and it was cute, brightening her day each time she saw someone pull a rose or a tulip from behind their back and watching the recipient's hands fly to their mouth in joy.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

All that happiness she had absorbed went away after her last class ended as she was walking through a small park to the subway. She became aware of footsteps crouching through the snow behind her. She glanced back to see a small group of men walking behind her. For no reason, she felt a shiver of fear. Natalie hastened her pace, and so did the men, matching and exceeding her pace so that they began drawing closer. Natalie began to run, her messenger bag banging against her hip. The men began chasing her, and fast as she struggled through the snow, the men caught up to her. One grabbed the strap of her bag, jerking her to a stop. Natalie yanked her bag out of the man's grasp and tried to run, but the men blocked her path. "What's the rush, girly?" asked one of the men. Frighteningly, they appeared to be sober.

"I-I- just trying to get home," replied Natalie, her eyes darting around the small park, desperately trying to find someone. No one was out on the frigid day unless they had to be, though, and the park was empty. She tried to recall what Steve had taught her about self-defense, longing to create a staff or wall. Fury had explicitly told her not to reveal her powers to the general public because of safety reasons and secrecy and a whole bunch of stuff like that. She'd been training but she couldn't fight off a a whole group of men. She felt a hand on her back and she whirled, slamming her bag into the offender's groin. The leader of the gang tsked. "That wasn't very nice," he chastised in a mocking tone. One of them grabbed her shoulders and shoved her forward. She landed on her hands and knees in the snow. One man picked up her bag and rifled through it, pulling out her textbooks and dropping them in the snow. Natalie reached for her bag from the ground, but the leader knocked her hand away with his boot.

"Ah-ah-ah! We'll be on our way in just a moment." He had a falsely compassionate look on his face. Natalie reached out quickly and grabbed ahold of his foot, pulling as hard as she could. He fell on his back in the snow, the air expelled from his lungs with a _whuff_. Natalie scrambled to her feet, the men chuckling like she was a fairly amusing dog.

"Now, now, we don't want too much trouble," said a man. "We're just gathering a little cash. Cough up, and you're free to go."

"And if I don't?" There was a pause.

"Well, then...you're not quite free to go. That shouldn't be a problem, though, considering who you live with. Hand over whatcha got, young lady. You can make this nice and easy on yourself, or you can make it less so."

"I-I don't have anything!" Natalie was telling the truth. She tended to not carry money with her for this reason. The leader had regained his breath and clambered to his feet. He didn't have the fake, caring expression on his face anymore.

"That was the wrong move, kid. Now you got one chance. You give us any money you've got, or we get it another way." He pulled something out of his pocket. He flicked a silver blade open. "The Avengers ain't gonna know where you are. We can be gone before anyone shows up." Natalie glanced around. She one man reach inside his pocket. She lunged at him, knocking him to the ground. As she had hoped, a switchblade fell from his hand. She snatched it up, holding it in front of her with both hands. The leader smirked. "Whatcha gonna do with that? You can't take us all." Natalie tried to hide the shaking of her hands. Then something cold and sharp touched the back of her neck. Her breath caught in her chest and her heart skipped a beat. "Drop it, sweetie." Natalie fingers unwrapped from the knife and it fell into the snow.

"Excuse me," said a new voice. Natalie's heart leapt. A smooth, rich voice that she knew quite well.

"Beat it," said the leader, wiggling his knife at something behind Natalie. "This ain't none 'a your business."

"Oh, I think it is," said Loki. There was a beat of silence, then the men started screaming and running away from Natalie. The man with the knife to her neck pulled her around but did not let go. She saw what was scaring the men and her jaw dropped. A huge panther was racing after them, snarling as it snapped its jaws at their legs and heels. It turned to the man with the knife under Natalie's chin and growled. Natalie began running through possible actions in her mind. Loki paced back and forth, his paws crunching on the snow, tail twitching. Natalie reached up slowly, smoothly, then with one swift motion grabbed the man's wrist and yanked it away from her, turning out to face him and lashing out with her foot, kicking him in the stomach. He slashed wildly with the knife as he fell, drawing a painful red line across her wrist. She clasped her other hand over it. The panther stalked up to stand next to her. The man scrambled backwards, hastily pushing himself up and taking off out of the park. When he had disappeared, green light shimmered around the panther and Loki stood in its place. "Let me see," he said, taking her hand and gently tracing his finger along the cut. It faded to a faint scar and then disappeared.

"That was incredible! Why didn't you tell us you could do that?" exclaimed Natalie. Loki gave her a little smile, snapping his fingers. Her bag flew towards them, textbooks slotting neatly into it. He slung the bag over his shoulder and held out his hand. Natalie placed hers in it and he closed his fingers gently. There was flash of light, and suddenly they weren't in the park. They were sitting side by side on a lush green hill in a beautiful green meadow, the sun beaming down on them. Natalie looked around in awe. "Where are we?" she asked as she shed her coat, hat and gloves. She reached forward and tugged off her shoes and socks, scrunching her toes in the soft, cool grass.

"You have seemed less energetic as of late. It seems to have affected all of your friends as well." Natalie tipped her head in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess. Winter blues or whatever, maybe cabin fever." Loki looked bewildered. "It's not actually an illness, cabin fever just means you're restless from being cooped up inside for so long, like during the winter months." Loki nodded.

"I thought a place like this might be an enjoyable respite from the harsh weather. I do not mind the cold as much because of my jotun heritage, but I still find warm weather preferable to cold." Natalie lay back and heaved a contented sigh. Loki waved his hand and a purple flower materialized in it. He offered it to Natalie. "I understand today is a holiday of expressing love." Natalie took the flower and held it to her nose, inhaling the sweet scent.

"Mm-hm...Valentines Day." She looked over at Loki. "How are we going to go forward with this?" Loki looked back. "With the relationship that we have?"

"Why do we have to change what we have? It seems to be working in our favor." He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. She smiled.

"That's true. Think we should tell anyone?"

"I rather enjoy having our little secret. Stark is not as observant as he thinks if he has not managed to discover it." Natalie giggled. Loki looked at her as though realizing something. "Doesn't Stark have a way to discover your location through that telephone of yours?" Natalie pulled out her phone.

"Well, there was a tracking function in it but I figured out how to turn that off a while ago. I got tired of Tony showing up wherever I was whenever he wanted just because he could." Loki lay back too, his hand clasped over hers. "Devious," he said with a smile. The two lay on the hillside, enjoying the other's presence next to them.

"Do you ever have to back to Asgard?" Natalie asked after a while. Loki was quiet for a few moments.

"I believe Odin will eventually have me return. I do not know when that will be. Perhaps in a year, perhaps in a month. When he decides that I have meted out my time on Midgard, it is my duty to return home." Natalie didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"You're doing really well here. Everyone is really liking you."

"That is what the Allfather wanted my time here to entail." Natalie chuckled, recalling something.

"Even Clint's warmed up to you since you helped him prank Tasha a few weeks ago."

Natalie could only imagine what was going to happen on April Fool's Day if Loki was still there. She could already see the pranks Loki could pull if he wanted to...

* * *

**Next update is April Fools Day! PM/review with prank ideas, or just review with your opinion!**

**Also OHMYGODIRONMANTHREE! Who's seen it? (I'm going tomorrow!)**


	7. April Fools' Day

**I'm sorry this chapter was late...mainly because of school but also a bit of writers' block...I'm quite ready for summer break! Anyways, I had a request from user** kylie . roby . 58** _(ignore the spaces, it wouldn't let me put the the name in otherwise, sorry Miss Roby!)_ ****asking me to put Natalie's friend Amy in a chapter. So I did! Enjoy the pranks!**

* * *

"Promise not to freak out on me?"

"Yes, Lee, I promise!"

"I don't believe you."

"Lee, please tell me?!"

"Fine...we haven't seen each other for months. Would you like to come sleep over tonight?" Natalie asked, immediately tossing the phone onto her bed in preparation for the shriek she knew was coming. She could hear Amy's response from her desk where she sat.

"LEE! Oh my god, are you serious?! Yes, I'd love to!" Amy cried through the phone. Natalie recovered the phone and held it to her ear.

"Great. See you later, I'll come down and wait for you when you get here. You freaked out nicely, by the way. I told you." Amy humphed on the other end. Natalie hung up and went to tell Tony. In hindsight she probably should have asked first, but she figured he wouldn't mind too much.

Later that afternoon when Amy arrived at the tower, she was quite stunned.

"Lee, this place is amazing!" she whispered as the pair traveled up to the Avenger floors. Natalie chuckled.

"You sort of get used to it, plus we don't use all the floors. It may be Avenger Tower but a lot of the floors are devoted to Stark Industries stuff. R&D, testing, production, stuff like that." The elevator slowed and the doors slid open. Amy followed Natalie out into the commons. No one was there at the moment, but someone would be around soon. "And this is the main Avenger floor, where we hang out, where our rooms are. We just kind of refer to it as the commons." She led Amy into her room and Amy set her stuff down, looking around.

"It's totally you," she said. The girls went back out into the commons to wait for someone to come back, turning on the TV and idly flipping channels while they chatted. Not long afterwards, Steve came in, followed by Tasha and Bruce. Natalie, knowing exactly what was coming, calmly slapped a hand over Amy's mouth, muffling the squealing now coming from it. After Amy stopped squealing, Natalie looked at her, grinning. "You done?" Amy nodded, smiling back. "Okay! Amy, this is Steve, Bruce and Tasha," she said, each raising a hand in greeting. "Guys, this is my friend Amy. I'm warning you now, she can get a bit excited." Amy nodded, giggling slightly.

"I'm good now, just needed to get that out." She took a deep breath. "Can I start over? I'm very happy to meet you guys. Like, I think I might combust with excitement right now." Tasha grinned, Steve blushed slightly, and Bruce looked slightly amused.

"She's something of a fan of you guys," said Natalie. Amy nodded.

"What're you guys watching?" Tasha asked, plopping down on the couch. Natalie shrugged.

"Nothing really, we're just channel surfing," she said, tossing the remote over to her. "It's all yours." She stood up, Amy doing the same, and the pair disappeared into Natalie's room. Amy closed the door and sat down on the plush purple rug. Natalie joined her.

"So," said Amy, placing her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists. "How've you been? How's college? How's life with the Avengers?" Natalie smiled, not knowing where to start.

"Neither of those things is always easy," she said. "College is like high school times seven, and living with Tony Stark is not exactly a walk in the park." Amy grinned, then straightened up.

"Can I meet Tony Stark?" she asked excitedly. Natalie rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Yes, Amy."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Later, after several hours of girl-bonding and two more fangirl attacks (after meeting Tony and Clint together and then Thor), Natalie and Amy were having a movie marathon, watching the Harry Potter movies in no particular order. As they lay on the floor of Natalie's room, sharing bowls of popcorn and candy, Natalie's door, not fully closed, opened slightly and shortly thereafter Natalie felt small paws tread across her back, then a weight settle down and the vibration of purring. Amy squealed in delight.

"You didn't tell me you had a kitty!" She scooped Galdur off Natalie back and cuddled him, receiving nuzzles in her hand in return.

"Well, technically I don't, he's not mine," she said, reaching over and scratching the small black cat on the head. There was a short knock on Natalie's door. "C'mon in ," Natalie called. The door opened and Loki walked in.

"Have you seen Galdur?" Natalie held up the kitten, who squirmed out of her grasp and scampered over to Loki, rubbing up against his legs. Loki noticed Amy. "I apologize, I did not realize you had company." Natalie waved her hand.

"It's fine, Amy this is Loki, Loki, this is my friend Amy. She's spending the night here." Loki nodded.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Amy." He then left, gently closing the door with the kitten prancing around his heels. Amy turned to Natalie, a slightly puzzled look on her face.

"Is he an Avenger?" Natalie shook her head.

"No, he's Thor's brother. He's actually... he's the one who kind of...invaded the city last summer." Amy looked surprised now.

"Then what is he doing here? Are you guys, like, keeping watch over him? Is he under arrest or anything?" Natalie sighed.

"It's kind of a long story. You know he's not from here, right?"

"Yeah, he sounds British."

"No, I mean...he and Thor are actually Loki and Thor from Norse myths. They're from Asgard. Their dad decided that Loki should come back to earth and be sort of rehabilitated with us. They showed up again right before Thanksgiving. And Loki wasn't under his own control last summer." She paused. "Also all of this is highly classified and you can't tell anyone, okay?" Amy gave her a strange look but smiled.

"Yeah, sure, your secret is safe with me." Natalie paused

"Speaking of secrets...there's something else I want to show you." Her hands glowed and a small amaranthium sphere formed. She twisted it and stretched it into a small staff, then held it out to Amy, whose eyes and mouth were wide.

"What is that?" she whispered.

"I call it amaranthium," she said. "It's sort of one of the reasons I'm here, with the Avengers. It's kind of related to the New York Incident. I don't think I can say anything more, but I wanted to show you because I trust you." Amy took the stick and tapped it. "It feels like...like steel, almost, but it's really light. This is so neat! Again, I promise not to tell anyone."

The movie marathon lasted long into the night- it was probably around two in the morning when the pair dozed off, The Half-Blood Prince playing quietly.

They were awakened several hours later by a yell Natalie recognized as Natasha. She scrambled up and out of her room, leaving Amy blinking groggily on the floor, blearily pushing the blanket off her. She found everyone else rushing to Natasha's room as well. Clint banged on the door.

"Tash, you okay?" he shouted. There was a moment of silence, then the door flew open and Natasha stormed out, wearing a red bathrobe and hair dripping.

"What..." Natalie trailed off as Natasha passed her, a strange odor trailing in her wake. Natalie sniffed. "Why do you smell like chicken soup?"

"Something was wrong with my shower water," hissed Natasha. "It was brown and smelled like that. I turned on the water and nothing came out for a second, then I got chicken broth in the face!" Natalie turned to go into Natasha's room, then turned back.

"Um...may I?" she asked. Natasha nodded, sinking into one of the chairs to fume. Natalie entered Natasha's room, which was furnished in a modern, chic style, and headed for the bathroom. She stepped onto the toilet, next to the shower, reached up and unscrewed the showerhead. Inside were several mushy yellowish lumps. She poked one with her finger, then licked the residue. Grabbing a paper cup from the sink, she scooped the soggy mess into it and left Natasha's room.

"Someone put chicken bouillon cubes in your showerhead," she declared as she reentered the commons. By now Amy had joined the group.

"Ew," she said. "That's super nasty. Who did it?" Everyone looked around at the others.

"I have a hunch," grumbled Natasha. "Jarvis," she said, raising her voice slightly, "Do you know who put the bouillon in my shower?"

_"I apologize, Miss Romanoff, but I am not at liberty to say."_

"Jarvis, you better tell me or so help me, I will find your CPU or whatever your equivalent is and rip it apart," Natasha said in a dangerously calm voice. If Jarvis was real, he'd probably have wet his pants right about then.

_"That would be Mr. Stark, Miss Romanoff. April Fools Day is one of Mr. Stark's favorite holidays."_

"Oh, it is April Fools Day, isn't it?" said Natalie. She gave Amy an apologetic glance. "I totally forgot, I think this was the wrong weekend to invite you over." They walked back into Natalie's room and Natalie flipped the light switch. Seconds later, there was a loud bang, and the girls found themselves being showered in a slimy green substance. They let out simultaneous shrieks, prompting the arrival of the Avengers at Natalie's doorway. "We're fine!" Natalie assured them. She shook the ooze off of her hands and wiped it from her face, looking up at the ceiling. She found the source almost instantly- the remains of two balloons attached to the light. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened- when she had turned on the light, the heat had caused the balloons to pop, releasing the gunk on them. "I'm going to _kill_ Tony!" seethed Natalie.

The girls took turns in the shower to wash off the slime (thoroughly checking the showerhead before doing so). Once both were done, they went out and found Natasha in the commons. She had finished her shower too, and apparently everyone else on the floor had fallen victim to a prank. Thor's hair was now a bright green, thanks to hair dye in his shampoo, the tips of Clint's arrows had been replaced with Barbie heads, Steve had found his shield and uniform replaced with a pillow and a ballerina's costume, Bruce's lab had been covered in posters with happy, motivational phrases like _Think of Your Calm Place!_ and _Let Your Anger Go_ and several copies of one that was clearly made by Tony saying _Keep Calm and Mellow Jazz! Bongo Drums! Big Bag of Weed! _When he attempted to remove them, they left behind a sticky imprint of whatever was on the poster, soaked through into the glue. Even Loki had been pranked. Galdur was discovered in an air vent, after they heard bells jingling from above them. Clint had climbed inside to find him wearing down sort of ridiculous harness covered in bells. After the pranks had been uncovered, the eight pranked gathered in the commons to discuss the next move.

"We have to get Tony back. It's how the day works," said Natalie.

"Agreed," said Clint, "But should we each get him back individually and do more pranks or do we team up and get him with larger pranks, but fewer?"

"I like individual, but we can team up to make them better," said Natasha. "More freedom to use any specific talents we might want to employ. Plus, more is better if we want to torment him." There was a devilish gleam in her eye. Everyone grinned, even the normally pacified Bruce.

"This shall be quite the day for Friend Stark," said Thor. Natalie asked to go first, already having an idea in mind.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

She and Amy took the elevator down to the floor with Tony's lab. Instructing Jarvis to not open the doors, she stepped onto a block of amaranthium and pushed open a panel on the elevator car roof. She hoisted herself through, pulled Amy up through the hole and created a ledge for them to crouch on above the car, replacing the panel. "We're in position," she said quietly into her phone.

"Okay, Bruce is calling Tony down now." Half a minute later, the elevator began dropping away from her.

"He's on his way. Tell Jarvis to open the doors on this floor." A few seconds later, the doors slid open. Carefully, Natalie manipulated her small platform so it slid down and sat in front of the open doors. The two climbed off, hurried to the door of the lab, where Natalie punched in her lab codes and the two set to work inside. When they were finished, they climbed inside a cabinet. Natalie turned on the camera on her phone and waited for Tony to return.

Tony stepped out of the elevator, absentmindedly humming an AC/DC song. He typed in his lab codes, entered his lab and stopped dead in his tracks. Many of the drawers, cupboards and tools all around the lab were covered in a shiny purple and silver layer. Other surfaces had been covered in Iron Man wrapping paper- Amy's handiwork- attached with two-sided tape. He tapped one of the covered drills with his finger, then turned around and saw the largest horror of all. His precious Mark IX suit, so close to being complete, was mummified in the substance only one person he knew could produce. Suddenly the door opened and closed behind him. He whirled, catching a glimpse of two heads of hair- one reddish-brown, one black, flying into the elevator. Natalie and her friend turned to look back as the doors slid shut. He couldn't hear them, but it was clear they were giggling hysterically. He caught sight of a piece of paper on his main desk.

_Should last about two hours- I've been practicing!_

He clenched his fist, crumpling Natalie's note and sighing. He didn't think they'd start their revenge- heck, even find out it was him- this fast. Jarvis must have told them- he'd have to work on that. He sank into his chair with a sigh. If they were all going after him, it was going to be a long day.

-.-.-

Tony cautiously entered the commons, wary of any traps that might be positioned around the room. Natasha was looking out the window, staring very intently at something. She nodded as though listening to someone talk. Hearing Tony enter, she turned around and waved, smiling brightly. "Hey, Tony! I was just catching up with a few friends." Tony looked around blankly.

"Who?" Natasha motioned out the window.

"The spiders! There's a few hanging on the window and we were just having a chat." Tony laughed.

"Okay, that's a really lame prank, Natasha, I expected much better from you. Especially after what I did to you." As he laughed, Natasha leaned so she was pressed against the glass, looking up and motioned downward. Tony's laughter petered out as the window began darkening, slowly being covered with thousands of spiders. Natasha flicked open the window and the arachnids poured into the room, cutting a path around Natasha. Tony let out a girlish shriek, turning and tearing to the elevator and throwing himself inside. Once the doors had shut, Natasha turned to where Loki was peering out of his door and gave him a thumbs-up. He snapped his fingers and the spiders vanished.

"Did you manage to capture his reaction?" he asked, coming out of his room. Natasha plucked a small camera from the top of the game shelf.

"I did," she said, a grin on her face.

-.-.-

Tony rushed down to his lab, trying to rid himself of the fear that spiders were taking over his tower. He just needed to go for a flight, clear his mind, get away from the tower for a while. The Mark IX was still mummified in Natalie's amaranthium, but he had eight other suits to choose from. Not that he'd take the Mark I- but the point being he didn't need the Mark IX to have a good flight. He leaned against one of his desks, rubbing his face with his hands. "Jarvis, open the suit room," he said. Behind him, a wall slid open. He turned to enter, then halted in horror for the second time that day. His good suits were stacked on the floor. Sitting on top was Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. The other suits, the older ones, each were encased in different things. One was wrapped in a net, one was frozen with clouds of fog rolling off it- _liquid nitrogen_, Tony thought. Each one had an arrow sticking to it or on the floor near it. Tony let out an exasperated sigh. Maybe he shouldn't have pranked _everyone_...

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The pranked Avengers gathered again in the commons to look at the tapes of their handiwork. The favorite by far was Natasha and Loki's spider illusion.

"Okay," said Natasha, wiping a tear from her eye as her laughter subsided, "Have we paid Tony back enough?" As the other let out final giggles and huffs of laughter, they nodded.

"More than enough, but it was too fun to stop," giggled Natalie. Behind them, the elevator dinged, signaling the arrival of someone on their floor. The doors slid open to reveal Tony, his hands up in mock surrender.

"Okay, you guys, you've more than gotten me back. If I promise to clean up and fix anything I did to prank you, can the pranking be over? I never thought I say this but I am so done with April Fools Day. At least until next year." Natasha and Clint whispered with each other, pretending to deliberate on the matter. Finally, Natasha looked back at Tony.

"All right. We'll stop pranking if you go clean up." Tony smiled with something like relief.

"Great. I had one more idea, though, and I could use your help..."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Fury walked into his office in the SHIELD New York headquarters, plopping down in his desk chair with a sigh. It really wasn't easy, being the boss. He settled back in the large leather chair, relaxing as he closed his eyes. Suddenly there was a short sound. A screechy, metal-being-dragged sound. He sat up, looking around his office. A movement out of the corner of his eye made him turn. A filing cabinet was slowly sliding across the floor, being pushed out of its position by a purple block, expanding ever so slowly. A second dragging sound behind him sent him twisting to see the same thing happening to his desk...then his chair, then more cabinets. His entire office was filling up with purple glowing boxes. He frowned, trying to figure out where he had seen this stuff before...

The footage from the Helicarrier during Loki's breakout! This was Fisher's doing. He grabbed a tablet and opened a call to Stark's phone.

Tony's phone rang. He shushed everyone, motioning to the hacked video feed of Fury's office. Putting the phone on speaker, he accepted the call.

"What's up, Patch-"

"Cut it out, Stark. You know what I'm calling about. You better have an answer right now."

"It's April Fools' Day, Nick!" said Tony brightly, before terminating the call, everyone immediately releasing their contained laughter.

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**Hope you guys liked it! There's one more chapter coming, but it's not really a holiday. Virtual cookies and a shoutout if you can guess what it is...**

**Until next time!**

**-Ophelia**


	8. Natalie's Birthday

**Guys! Coulson's aliiiiiive! And I realize that's kind of old news now but I forgot to fangirl in my last update. And thanks to **CrystalClear98** for present ideas! **

**Also if anyone out there uses DeviantArt or is just a good artist and would like to draw me their interpretation of Natalie...maybe?**

**And sorry for the long AN at the bottom.**

* * *

Natalie yawned without sitting up. She was tempted to just stay in bed for another hour. Or three. She was probably entitled to it, after all. As she was pulling the sheet back up around her, she heard a humming, like a weapon being powered up. In a flash, she was out of bed, a wall flying up from her left hand and a staff forming in her right. Only then did she realize who her "attacker" was- Tony, who held a stopwatch in one hand.

"Point seven six seconds, not bad reaction time for just waking up. Training's paid off! Widow put me up to it," he said added quickly at the slightly murderous expression on Natalie's face.. Natalie let the amaranthium fade with a sigh and plopped back down on her bed.

"Give me a heart attack, why don't you?" she muttered into her pillow. "Was that absolutely necessary? It's the first week of summer vacation..."

"Yes, I've got something for you. Come on." Tony tugged gently on her arm. Natalie groaned into her pillow but rolled out of bed and followed him. She walked into an explosion of color. There were streamers, balloons, ribbons, and confetti in every color of the rainbow scattered about the room. The Avengers (bar Tasha and Clint) stood in the middle of the large room, expectant looks on their faces.

"Happy birthday!" they all shouted. Natalie grinned.

"I'm not sure whether I should be mad that you woke me up or happy that you knew it was my birthday." Tony pulled her over to a table where a small pile of presents was stacked.

"Tony, let her at least eat breakfast first!" Steve chuckled. Tony gave Steve an annoyed look, then turned back to Natalie.

"Open them!" he cried excitedly. Natalie gave a huff of laughter and reached for one of the presents. Tony took one and handed it to her before she could take one. "Open mine first! Please?" He was like an excited puppy dog, Natalie thought, shaking her head with a smile on her face as she took Tony's present. She pulled off the ribbon and paper and lifted the box lid to reveal a pair of gauntlets, like the ones on the Iron Man suit, but hers were purple and silver instead of red and gold- and hers didn't have fingertips. She slipped her hands into them, marveling at how deceptively light they were. Tony was practically bouncing in his seat. "Do you like them? They don't shoot repulsors like my suit does but the palms produce an electric current if you wanted to add some offense-or defense, I suppose- to your purple stuff. It also works for quick, quiet self-defense too, just slap the person on the arm with the current on and knock them right out." Natalie flexed her fingers.

"They're awesome, Tony, I love them!

"That's not even the best part!" said Tony, reaching over and pressing a small catch on the underside of her wrist. The glove folded off of her fingers and compressed into a small bracelet on her wrist. "Easy storage and transportation!"

"Thanks, Tony, these are amazing!" She did the same with the other one before reaching for another present.

"That one's mine," said Bruce. Natalie pulled off the paper to reveal an out-of-print book that she had been hunting for for weeks.

"Is this why I haven't been able to find at rare book stores?" she asked Bruce. He gave her a quirky grin.

"Found it a few weeks ago. You mentioned something about it around that time." Natalie flipped a few pages before reaching for the next present. It was from both Thor and Loki, according to the label. She picked it up, straining- it was really heavy. She decided to leave it on the table and pulled off the paper. Well, there was one of the weight factors- the box was made of wood. It was the right size to hold a large watermelon, and covered in ornate carvings. She pushed the lid back to discover a helmet. It was a light silver, somehow tinted slightly purple. There were a pair of tiny horns- no, they were...claws, curving up from the hairline. She lifted it out gently. "Whoa," she breathed. She placed it on her head. The front peaked down over the bridge of her nose, and the back reached just above the nape of her neck. "Guys, this is awesome. Why so extravagant, though? I'm not complaining, it's amazing, but for my birthday?" Thor chuckled.

"The fact that it is your birthday is why we chose this." Natalie was still confused, and Loki jumped in.

"On Asgard, when a young warrior reaches their seventeenth birthday- or our equivalent, which is a considerably longer amount of time- they are given their first piece of real armor, replacing the training armor they have worn in the past and signifying the beginning of their journey into adulthood." Natalie took off the helmet, brushing her hand over the crown.

"Thanks, you guys. Coming from you, that really means a lot." She set the helmet gently back in the box and reached for the last present on the table.

It was small and flat, and the label was written in Steve's neat hand. Natalie tore the paper off to reveal a small box. Inside was a framed photo of a smiling man and woman, who held a baby in her arms. Natalie was confused- until she began noticing familiar things in the picture. The color of the man's hair, the woman's eyes, the shape of the man's nose. A memory began to surface, faded by nearly sixteen years of disuse...

"Steve..." she breathed. "Are these...are they..." Steve nodded. She jumped from her seat, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and threw her arms around Steve. "Where did you find it?" she asked, releasing him and wiping the tear tracks from her face.

"Wait, hold on, what's the picture of?" Tony asked. Natalie turned the frame towards him.

"It's my parents," she said quietly.

"I did some digging and found a friend of your family's who let me have it," answered Steve. Natalie touched her mother's face.

"Thank you." She sniffed and straightened up. "Where're Clint and Tasha? Did they get called off on a mission?"

"No, they're bringing their present for you. They should be back soon... Ah, speak of the devil!" Tony said as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Clint and Natasha came out. Natasha held a SHIELD tablet computer. "Happy birthday!" they chorused. Natasha turned the tablet around to face Natalie and turned it on. Nick Fury's face appeared on the screen. "Happy birthday, Miss Fisher," he said.

"Um...thanks, Director, but I don't think it was necessary to tell me that personally or anything, I'm sure you've got much more important things to do."

"Actually, Miss Fisher, I'm here with an offer. You know that being a SHIELD agent takes a lot of training, and you have to be eighteen, but I'd like to offer you the chance to join our new Junior Agents program. Teenagers and children with powerful abilities will be trained by SHIELD to harness and use their powers for good. What do you say, Miss Fisher?" Natalie used about 1.7 seconds to consider.

"Are you kidding? That would be awesome!"

"First session is today. I'll see you on board the Helicarrier at four." Fury ended the connection. Natalie turned to look at the Avengers.

"Agent Fisher of SHIELD. Sounds pretty good."

* * *

**So...I started writing the first training session, but I wasn't sure if I should put it in here, or add it as a chapter, or make the Junior Agent training a whole other story. What do you guys think? I put a poll up on my profile regarding just that. I actually have two polls I'd like to have open but i can only display one at a time. So I'm going to alternate-I'll try and switch it every couple of days or so.**

** It really would mean so much to me if you take the time to review and just cast a quick vote! ****Please? I really really like it when you guys help me. It lets me know you're into the story!**

**When I decide what to do with the training stuff, there will be some sort of update here- either a note letting you know of a new story or another chapter posted.**

**Also I completely made up the Asgardian helmet thing.**

**Thanks in advance,**

**Ophelia**


	9. Update!

Hi guys!

Just wanted to let you know that my next story is up! It's called A World of Green- I hope you like it!

~Ophelia


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